cannabisnews.com: The Time Has Arrived To End War On Cannabis
The Time Has Arrived To End War On Cannabis
Posted by CN Staff on November 24, 2008 at 08:09:52 PT
By Joe Bertram III
Source: Maui News
Hawaii -- Thank you, South Maui, for your vote of confidence and congratulations, America, for voting for change. As the president-elect exhorted, let's move beyond the arguments of the past, old policies and perceptions that divide us and work together for solutions to our many challenges.One of the biggest challenges is to end the wars based on lies, not just in the Middle East but also here at home - the generations-long, incredibly destructive war on cannabis.
Started in the '30s with a racist rebranding as marijuana, it literally kicked in as "no-knock" laws and went into high gear in the '70s when President Nixon, against the advice of his own cannabis commission, created the controlled substances act that declared war on drugs.Hundreds of millions of dollars have since flowed to local law enforcement. Vice squads that had seven officers went to 70. Even small police forces now bristled with weapons and sophisticated surveillance and interrogation equipment. Our prison population ballooned with 60 percent nonviolent drug offenders so that we now imprison more than any other country in the world while cannabis use has stayed pretty much unchanged.The destruction to our communities from these warriors continues unabated.Here on Maui, local and state officials conducted a two-year, covert military-like operation code named "Weed Killer" to destroy a community-based cannabis patient advocacy group, "Patients Without Time."Headed by Brian Murphy, PWT worked tirelessly over the last several years to help patients to grow their own and access otherwise unobtainable medicine safely and regularly. My own friend got great tips as he struggled to grow his own. Mr. Murphy constantly experimented with different strains to address specific ailments. He was particularly proud of the patients he got off of Oxycotin, a deadly, highly addictive pain killer.PWT and its sister organization, Maui County Citizens for Democracy in Action, registered thousands of voters, submitted legislation and testimony at the state and county level to pursue a democratic change to implement their dream of family cannabis farms. This was based on the Legislature's own recommendation in a 2004 report for secure growing facilities to address the glaring lack of safe access for those who can't or won't grow their own. PWT regularly invited law enforcement to help create a system that protected patients and the public interest at the same time.The response: MPD against program in its entirety on grounds of "public safety" and may violate federal policy. HPD "Oppose any effort." No cooperation. Then the hammer comes down.It is obvious that the amount of money and power that has flowed to law enforcement to maintain prohibition will be difficult to overcome. It is now time to follow the lead of Massachusetts and our own Big Island, which voted to make marijuana enforcement the lowest police priority, and decriminalize all cannabis at the state level.President-elect Obama and Congress support federal decriminalization proposals and I will work with our congressional delegation and my legislative partners to offer a decriminalization/sentence reform to remove law enforcement from decisions that belong between a patient, a physician and a person's own conscience.We can redirect those resources to building a healthy economically vibrant community that addresses the root causes of drug abuse, emphasizing wellness over disease. This can be a sustainable, peaceful society with laws based on facts, not lies.Change we can believe in? Yes, we cannabis!Complete Title: The Time Has Arrived To End The Lucrative War On CannabisJoe Bertram III is a member of the state House of Representatives from District 11, South Maui. Newshawk: The GCWSource: Maui News, The (HI)Author: Joe Bertram IIIPublished: November 19, 2008Copyright: 2008 The Maui NewsContact: letters mauinews.comWebsite: http://www.mauinews.com/ CannabisNews -- Cannabis Archiveshttp://cannabisnews.com/news/list/cannabis.shtml
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Comment #31 posted by Hope on November 25, 2008 at 08:38:08 PT
Right on, Dankhank!
"Power to the stepchildren"!Fair and just and good service don't seem to be nearly as important as the bottom line to companies today. It's weird they don't realize that all that would, in fact, help the bottom line and stabilize it.
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Comment #30 posted by FoM on November 25, 2008 at 07:10:15 PT
Dankhank
Let us know if it goes well with Dish. Upgrading to HD is something we want to do but until we see better deals we just will wait. I read a new DVR with more bells and whistles is coming out for DirecTV and maybe Dish but I don't know when.
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Comment #29 posted by dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 20:32:52 PT
steps ...
sometimes that works, didn't for me when I queried direct the last time, but I will push hard when I look to upgrade here at Dish, which will likely be soon, maybe for Christmas ...power to the stepchildren ...
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Comment #28 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 18:14:12 PT
Hope
I'm not good at that either. I want them to be fair. I've called two times over the last 6 months and I didn't see any interest in helping us out. I think I will call Dish and see if they will value us at least until after we switch to them! LOL!
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Comment #27 posted by Hope on November 24, 2008 at 18:03:34 PT
One of those "Stepchildren"
that I know of, called her company and asked for the same deal a new customer gets... and they said no. She said, "Fine. I'll go to another company and get a better deal". They said, "No. Wait. Speak to my supervisor." On it went, until they finally told her she could have the better deal just like a new customer.I haven't been one to "get down" with them like that, but you can, for sure.
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Comment #26 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 17:42:20 PT
Dankhank
We love our TV. It's so big and nice. When we upgrade to HD I want to get the best we can if it's Dish or DirecTV. We've been with DirecTV since 94 and I don't want to change but what are stepchildren suppose to do?
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Comment #25 posted by Dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 17:22:27 PT
msnbc
I stayed at the lowest level on dish for years so as not to give any money to Fauxnews since upgrading to dish200 gets msnbc AND faux.I finally did get dish 200 'bout two weeks ago and am like you, it runs ALL day on the big TV I can view from where I use the computer. It's so nice to get a progressive feed for a change. CNN is too strange, these days.I upgraded the night, recently, when Arianna subbed for Rachel. Gonna keep it ...Funny, I think here on Dish we may get treated the same way on an upgrade, so we may move back to Directv, we had them for 'bout 9 years before switching.seems if you are on a service you are like stepchildren, and get better treatment if you switch.That's how we ended up on dish ...
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Comment #24 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 17:04:13 PT
Dankhank
We talked about getting a blu-ray player and seeing how it looked with a couple movies. They won't give us the deals they are giving new customers on DirecTV. People have said to switch to Dish HD. They had a blu-ray player at Walmart for $120 something dollars last weekend. They are coming down. Can you get MSNBC on Dish? I watch it too much to give it up.
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Comment #23 posted by Dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 16:52:45 PT
HD ....
not yet ...we likely will get a Blu-Ray burner for Christmas, as a first step, hope it'll play DivX, too.Then we can rent a few Blu-ray DVDs and see what the fuss is about.I know that the HD is pretty awesome stuff. Even stuff in WalMart looks pretty good on the 720p sets.just watching regular DishNetwork stuff looks good, the newer the shows the better, and live stuff , toohey, stuff is good ... :-)
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Comment #22 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 14:40:44 PT
Dankhank
Thank you. I think I'll just buy the DVD because I know the quality will be very good. I got discouraged making a dvd from youtube because it looked grainy. Our tv is so big that doesn't help. Did you ever get HD?
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Comment #21 posted by The GCW on November 24, 2008 at 13:55:51 PT
One for the wish list.
Medical marijuana debate to returnhttp://www.argusleader.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=2008811230342PIERRE, S.D.-0-I'd like to see S.D. make the list.I used to say the ballot to legalize cannabis for medicinal use is batting a thousand, but not since S.D.'s didn't pass.
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Comment #20 posted by Dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 13:45:08 PT
dvd ...
dvd players generally can't play native flv. or mp4 files. You can get a free converter to convert flv and mp4 files to avi.http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=convert+flv+mp4+to+avi&btnG=Searchorhttp://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=convert+mp4+to+avi&btnG=Search
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Comment #19 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 13:43:12 PT
Just a Note
I just saw the Colbert Christmas Special on sale at Amazon for $12.99. I thought others might want to know.
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Comment #18 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 12:31:54 PT
Dankhank
I tried to put a youtube video onto a cd or dvd and I could do it but it was grainy. I was using my old computer at the time. If you can make a copy that you can view on your tv and it looks good please let me know and I'll give it a try. Thanks in advance.
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Comment #17 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 12:07:45 PT
Dankhank
I downloaded a program called FLV Player and it's working.
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Comment #16 posted by Dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 12:01:48 PT
good info page ...
http://www.afterdawn.com/guides/archive/how_to_play_mp4_files.cfm
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Comment #15 posted by Dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 11:56:38 PT
player
VLC or Quicktime ...
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Comment #14 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 11:30:55 PT
dankhank
What Player are you using to view the video after you downloaded it?
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Comment #13 posted by dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 11:24:24 PT
good link, GCW
talent is a universal high ...
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Comment #12 posted by dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 11:19:07 PT
no luck
on alternet, guess just youtube, ok,
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Comment #11 posted by The GCW on November 24, 2008 at 11:17:23 PT
I like your Christ
I had better luck w/ the YOutube loading.That was good, THANKS.I don't know much about Colbert but I didn't care for His role.-0-It will make some people... squirm funny; I hope they all get to see it.-0-It made Me think of this:"I like your Christ, I do not like your Christians. Your Christians are so unlike your Christ." -- Mahatma Gandhi -0-I wasn't going to post this; but, WHY NOT?http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=brmG6f2BMywReminds Me of a ventriloquist.
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Comment #10 posted by dankhank on November 24, 2008 at 11:12:02 PT
loaded
just fine at colbernation, now viewing at youtube with Mozilla, no prob, no viewer add on that I know of ...wanna copy of the video? A couple of weeks ago I found a site that will download a high quality mp4-copy, heh heh he said high, of that video and any other on youtube. I just tested and it works for this video.go here: http://keepvid.com/do what it says ... on dnld page choose HQ mp4 copy, and save it.I'm gonna test it on some other site, like alternet ...Merry Christmas ...
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Comment #9 posted by Hope on November 24, 2008 at 11:05:22 PT
Oh! Lol!
It was wonderful! That's so cool.I love Willie Nelson!"Let not mankind bogart Love"!
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Comment #8 posted by Hope on November 24, 2008 at 10:58:07 PT
Actually, it seems to be loading a bit more
quickly than usual. Maybe that Download Helper is really helping. Nice. Thanks BGreen.
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Comment #7 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 10:57:48 PT
Thanks Hope
Much better!
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Comment #6 posted by Hope on November 24, 2008 at 10:38:01 PT
Ah ha!
Just found this at YouTube. Looks like it's going to load.http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X8HGswf584E
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Comment #5 posted by Hope on November 24, 2008 at 10:25:50 PT
Colbert and Willie video
It won't even appear to be trying to load.I even downloaded the Mozilla Add On video helper into this computer... not that I know what to do with it.Something else odd, in every effort I've made to load it it still shows that there have been only eleven views of the video. I now that can't be right, because at least Goneposthole and the GCW have probably watched it in the time I've been trying to.:0(I'll keep trying. I want to see it.BGreen... reckon you can explain the download helper to me in a really simple way that I could maybe understand?
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Comment #4 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 09:23:17 PT
The GCW
Here it is! It's great! You should really love it!http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/211032/november-23-2008/a-colbert-christmas--willie-nelson-sings
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Comment #3 posted by The GCW on November 24, 2008 at 09:21:36 PT
Help
Is the killer Willie video available?
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Comment #2 posted by FoM on November 24, 2008 at 09:05:34 PT
goneposthole
Happy Thanksgiving to you too!
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Comment #1 posted by goneposthole on November 24, 2008 at 08:49:00 PT
Cannabis Prohibition is a Hate Crime
The Willie video is killer.Happy Thanksgiving, FoM.
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